


Healing Silver

by Yrindor



Series: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics 2016 Fills [58]
Category: Haikyuu!!, 弱虫ペダル | Yowamushi Pedal
Genre: Child Nitori Aiichirou, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Healer Sugawara Koushi, Hurt/Comfort, Prompt Fic, SASO 2016, Werewolf Arakita Yasutomo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:23:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7644406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He's a werewolf, Ai."</p><p>"Aren't werewolves dangerous, Papa?"</p><p>"They can be, just like anything else can be dangerous.  But they're fiercely loyal too, and they can be some of the most trusted friends you could ask for."</p><p>"Is that why you helped him?"</p><p>"No, I helped him because he was hurt and scared, and no creature deserves to feel that way.  That's what being a healer means."</p><p>"Being scared isn't a nice feeling.  I want to be a healer like Papa and make the bad feelings go away."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Healing Silver

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sports Anime Shipping Olympics 2016 Bonus Round 5: Myth & Lore. Also fills the "bullet wounds" square for Hurt/Comfort Bingo round 7.

Suga was no stranger to werewolves...or werecrows, werecats, or any other variety of werecreature for that matter. They were some of the more common residents of the forest, and others were always passing through. Years spent among them had taught Suga that they weren't nearly so dangerous or vicious as the stories would lead one to believe.

That being said, anything was dangerous when scared or cornered, having claws or fangs just made it that much more so. So when an injured and terrified werewolf stumbled into the forest, Suga was immediately alert. He usually relied on others to pass along news from the areas outside of the range he could sense himself, but the waves of fear, pain, and anger radiating from the new arrival were strong enough that he was moving before any of his usual eyes and ears even had word back to him.

"Ai," he said to his recently-adopted son as he packed a basket from the shelves of his workroom, "Papa has to go out for a little while. Will you be good while I'm gone?"

Ai giggled. "I'm always good, Papa," he said cheerfully. "I'm telling Shiro about the plants you taught me yesterday," he continued, and the massive white dog sitting on the floor next to him barked in agreement. "I'm going to learn them all and make Papa proud!"

"I'd be proud of you whether you learned them or not," Suga said, ruffling Nitori's hair. "There's stew over the fire if you get hungry. Get Shiro to help you with it though, I don't want you burning yourself by mistake."

"It's okay, Papa. The wispy sprites don't like fire either. They always dance away when it gets too close, so if I follow them, I'll be fine."

"I know you will, Ai, but that doesn't stop me from worrying. It's what parents do."

"Mama never did."

"What parents _should_ do," Suga corrected, planting one last kiss on Nitori's head before hurrying out the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he called behind him.

Even if he hadn't been able to sense the werewolf himself, the steady stream of frightened animals and other creatures rushing toward him would have told him he was moving in the right direction. After several minutes of brisk walking, he heard snarling in the distance, and he picked up his pace even more.

He was nearly running when he first caught sight of the werewolf through the trees, and then he did break into a sprint until they were face-to-face. The werewolf didn't seem much older than Suga himself. He appeared to be stuck halfway between wolf and human, and he was bleeding freely from a wound on his leg.

"Are you injured?" Suga asked as he set down his basket.

The werewolf looked up as if seeing him for the first time. "What does it look like?" he snapped. "Yes, I'm bloody injured, and it hurts like demon fire in case you were wondering?"

"What happened?" Suga asked, dropping his earlier pleasantries to focus on the issue at hand.

"Some self-important trophy hunter decided he wanted to add a werewolf to his collection. Caught me by surprise and hit me in the leg before I could escape. Silver bullet, and coated in wolfsbane too by the feel of it."

"Stop running around so much," Suga ordered firmly. "You're only spreading the poison."

"What do you want me to do?" the werewolf snapped. "It hurts too much not to move. And if it's going to kill me anyway, I don't see why it much matters whether it's sooner or later."

"I can help," Suga said firmly. "Let me see it."

"Are you an idiot!?" the young man yelled. "I'm a werewolf. Wolfsbane!? Silver!? They're _poison_ , you can't just slap a bandage on it and make it better."

"I'm a healer," Suga said, cutting through Arakita's protests. "My name's Sugawara Koushi. Now let me see it...sorry, I forgot to ask your name."

"Arakita Yasutomo," the werewolf said. He continued to look unimpressed, but he did stop and offer his leg to Suga.

"Just the one bullet, Arakita-kun?" Suga asked, noting where the fabric over Arakita's thigh was torn and bloody.

Arakita nodded. "Hunter was too full of himself to even imagine needing a second shot. If I hadn't been — WATCH IT!!!" he snapped abruptly and yanked his leg away from Suga's expertly probing fingers.

"Sorry, I had to check. The bullet's still intact, but it's lodged fairly deep," Suga said as he pulled various dried herbs from his basket and ground them together with a little water.

"And knowing that helps how?" Arakita snapped, his patience wearing thin.

"It needs to come out. Treating the poison does nothing so long as the source is still there." Bandages and an obsidian knife joined the poultice.

Arakita paled. "No," he said nervously. "Your are _not_ coming near me with that."

"If that's what you really want, then I won't," Suga said calmly, "but you'll be dead by the end of the day. Wolfsbane and silver are both painful ways to go."

The silence stretched between them until finally, Arakita looked away. "I hope you know what you're doing," he grumbled.

"I assure you I do. Lie on your back and cross your arms behind your head," Suga ordered as he slid his basket closer. He knelt straddling Arakita's shin, pinning it to the ground. "Close your eyes, Arakita-kun. Whatever you normally focus on while you're transforming, think about that now," Suga said gently. "Keep breathing, and I'll be as quick as possible."

"Could you just get on with it already?" Arakita asked tightly.

Suga cleaned the worst of the blood from Arakita's leg, then squeezed once in warning before setting blade to skin. Arakita cried out and jerked under him, trying to pull his leg away.

"Steady, Arakita-kun. Keep breathing," Suga said as he pressed down with the knife again, cutting more deeply along the same track. After the third quick stroke, he had a clear view of the poisoned bullet, and it was easy enough to remove it and let it fall to the forest floor. Then, he applied a thick layer of the poultice to the raw wound.

"Arakita-kun, it's done," he said as he began wrapping bandages around Arakita's thigh.

Arakita whimpered under him as his body finished shifting fully into human form, no longer trapped halfway by the hunter's bullet. "It's gone?" he asked weakly, stumbling over the words.

"It's gone," Suga confirmed.

"Thank you," Arakita whispered. He tried to stand, but stumbled, and Suga caught him before he could fall.

"Why don't you come stay with me for a few days?" the healer asked.

"I'm fine."

"You're not going to be able to run on that leg for awhile yet, and while I treated the worst of it, there's no way I know of to neutralize wolfsbane entirely. It won't kill you, but it's going to make you sick."

"It's bad enough I already owe you my life; I'm not adding to that debt."

"Consider it aid freely given with no expectation of repayment," Suga said.

"You're human; I don't trust selfless humans. You always some ulterior motive."

Suga smiled. "Consider it a selfish request then. I'd worry if you left now, so I'll propose a deal: you stay with me until you're healed, and I'll consider it repayment for saving your life."

Arakita just stared at Suga. "You're serious?" he asked once a long minute later.

"I am."

Arakita muttered something decidedly uncomplimentary under his breath. "Fine," he said eventually, "but only because I hate owing blood debts, especially to you blasted humans."

Suga smiled as he offered his arm. Arakita tried to ignore it, but he didn't make it far before being forced to accept that he was in no condition to be traveling on his own.

"If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll kill you, Suga-chan," Arakita growled as he let Suga support him.

"I wouldn't, Arakita-kun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Papa," Nitori asked later that night as he tucked yet another blanket around Arakita's shivering shoulders, "why do my hands tell me he's human when the spirits tell me he's a wolf?"

"He's both," Suga replied. "He's a werewolf."

"Aren't werewolves dangerous?"

"They can be, just like anything else can be dangerous. Even a mushroom can be deadly if you eat it when you shouldn't. But werewolves are fiercely loyal too, and they can be some of the most trusted friends you could ask for."

"Is that why you helped him?"

"No, I helped him because he was hurt and scared, and no creature deserves to feel that way."

"So we're taking care of him so he won't feel bad anymore?"

"Exactly. That's what being a healer is about."

Nitori left Suga's side for a moment and returned clutching the tattered blanket he had claimed as his own on their first night together. "I want to be a healer like Papa and make the bad feelings go away," he said as he tucked the blanket under Arakita's arm. "Feeling scared isn't a nice feeling. Now he won't be scared anymore."

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated. If you have a character and/or magical creature you'd like to see cross paths with Suga in this series, feel free to ask in a comment; I can't promise I'll fill all of them, but I'll try my best.


End file.
